Sunderland Civic Centre

The concept of a new town hall for Sunderland was first proposed in 1939 but plans were shelved due to the Second World War, and it was another twenty years before plans were revived. Sunderland’s new town hall and civic centre was a response both to a crisis of accommodation that had seen staff dispersed all over the town in separate buildings, and a desire for a progressive image that would attract new, light industries. The early 1960s was a time of expansion for the town with a proliferation of new house building, and a new civic centre was sought for 900 staff. The seven acre site chosen was some four hundred yards from the 1890 town hall, and was sited between Mowbray Park (Registered Landscape Grade II) and a disused railway cutting. The council brief was for a new building to provide accommodation for all 18 council departments with easy ground-level public access to each. There was to be a civic suite, with a council chamber, committee rooms and members' accommodation plus a small mayoral suite, which was to be capable of functioning as a separate element. There was to be extensive car parking and service facilities with separate car parks for the civic suite and for the departmental offices.
By Sir Basil Spence, Bonnington & Collins, 1968-70.